Whole Church Convicted to Community Service

In 2007 when our Church plant first started to meet we were in an old church hall, that was just outside the community we were trying to reach.  It was the only meeting space available at the time and just across the road.  We thought that those 10 meters or so wouldn't be so difficult to cross in modern east London.  We were wrong!  No matter how much we prayed or tried break through, those 10 meters were a barrier for them to come to us and for us to go to them.

By the end of 2008 we knew we needed to think outside the box.  We still didn't have a venue in the area but that didn't mean we couldn't have a positive presence in that community. So in January 2009 we started Serving Sundays.

We decided that on the last Sunday of every month we would not have our traditional hymn sandwich but instead go out and offer to serve the local people in practical ways.  We met at our usual time 10:30am at the church hall.  We then split into two teams, prayer and door to door.  The prayer team would stay in the church and commit to pray for the ministry, while the others went out to deliver leaflets or do odd jobs for local people.  We didn't know what take up we would have but we did have a clear vision.

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16

Even if people didn't let us wash their car, walk their dog, paint their house or help them move we wanted them to see us serving and Glorify God.  Or as Tim Keller put it (at the Urban Plant-Life conferences in London) for them to think: "I may not agree with what they believe but I am glad they are part of this community!" 

We have been doing it for a year now and have been really encouraged by the results.  From the very first month we were having requests for jobs.  Some of the jobs we have done are:

• Painted bed rooms
• weeded gardens
• put up shelves
• mowed lawns
• helped people move
• visited people who needed friends 

One of the highlights for me was when we were weeding a muslim ladies garden.  She asked me, "Why are you Christians doing this?  I've been going to my mosque for 7 years and no Muslim has ever offered to help me with my garden."  What a fantastic opportunity that was to tell her about our serving Saviour, Jesus!  That lady hasn't become a believer in Jesus (yet) but we do visit her regularly and often pray with her. 

One of the hardest words to get past when you knock on a door is "Church".  As soon as people hear it many want to close the door.  Only yesterday morning I knocked on a door and after getting to the "C" word a lady said, "No thanks, not interested!"  I responded with, "No you don't understand.  We not inviting you to church we want to mow your lawn or wash your car!"  Her character changed immediately from defensive to open.  "Oh" she said, "Maybe you could come back in the spring to help me with my garden."  

We now have a venue for meeting in the community (Cafe Church) but we still do Serving Sundays once a month.  It has helped us as a church to unite in mission and to get excited about service and has brought us closer to the people we are trying to reach. 

Recently I came across this on Twitter:   

"Mission is more than the means by which the deficit of non-worship is rectified. Mission defines worship because God is a redeeming God." STimmis  

At Bonny Downs North we can't have amazing worship services because we don't have any musicians.  However, we can worship through mission, community service and evangelism.  If you are in a church where it is hard to find an in road into the community or in a church that struggles with worship each week, why not consider trying a Serving Sunday or something like it?

Church Planting Rule No.1 "Love your community to life!"

Many church plants start in certain communities for negative reasons.  High crime, low church attendance, poverty to name a few.   That's not necessarily a bad thing but there is a danger of falling into a trap of being depressing.  Instead of inspiring hope in a community we can affirm people’s negativity.  You can even attract some people by pointing out how bad a community is.  Many people in the community will agree and join in the discussion of how bad things are and who let it get that way.

I was challenged once when watching a Documentory series on BBC1 (I think it was called "The Estate we're in") some years ago about a woman who turned communities round from being crime-dens to being fantastic places to live.  This woman had sucessfully turned around one estate before and a camera crew was following her exploits as she moved into an new rundown estate to do the same.  She wasn't a Christian and was in fact a chain-smoking, hard skinned, battle axe.  She was incredibly stubborn and refused to focus on the negative.  Instead she used her stubborn streak to make the best of the positive things she saw in an area.

On the episode I saw, this lady was talking with a single mum who lived in fear in a tower block.  The mother said, "I was on the phone with my best friend earlier and she said she wanted to come and live near me.  I told her she was mad and no one should ever come to this hell hole."  The lady responded, "No, this is a great place to live and it's going to be even better.  Think about it you and I live here and we're lovely!"  The amazing thing is that lady turned that community around, with her single handed stubbornness to focus on the positive!   It was contagious and inspiring.

If she could do that without Jesus, think of the amazing potential we have in our church plants with Him!

"Little children, you are from God and have overcome, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."" 1John 4:4

Jesus loved this messed up world.  He didn't come down to it just to remind us how bad it is or how bad we are.  He came because he saw something that was beautiful and worth saving.    Even in the worst people and darkest situations the world has to offer, there are faint images of our Heavenly Father.  And to Jesus they are worth dying for.

"Then God said, "Let us make man in our image..."" Genesis 1:26 

People are beautiful.  Communities are beautiful.  And every community should become more beautiful if a church is living and loving in it.

Let's be inspirational and stubbornly contagious with our positive attitudes towards the places where God has asked us to serve Him and love others.

Tough challenge but that's the gospel...

Clear Boundaries for Football & Life

As I was praying over the football fields outside the pavilion where we meet for Cafe Church, Kevin (the grounds keeper) was repainting the white lines around one of the pitches.  As I watched I realised how important his job was, although not many people might think about it.  If you are going to enjoy a good game of football you need to have clear boundaries.  You need to know where each side starts and finishes, where the keeper is allowed to handle the ball, where the penalty box is and where the edges of the field are.  You need to see them in an instant and in the heat of the game.  If you don't then bedlam and chaos will follow 

I then went out and asked Kevin how often he does this vital job.  "Once a week" he replied, "I don't have to do it that often, but the clearer the markings are the better and safer the game!"  

It reminded me of Christian ministry.  We're all locked in a game more vital and real than football, the game called life.  The rules and boundaries are set by our Creator but through sin the markings are blurred and hard to see.  We want to play by our own rules and that makes things get messy.  People spend whole life times arguing about what the rules should be and who should get to set them.  When this happens on a football pitch things can aggressive.  The same can happen in the game of life it can with far more serious consequences.

The job of Christian ministry through Evangelism is to help people see the boundaries again and to bring them to a desire to play by the rules.  The job then moves to helping people to mark out those boundaries clearly in their lives through studying the Bible, preaching, prayer and accountability to a church community.  

"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.""  John 8:12

Rules don't destroy the game, they make them!  It's the same with life.  God doesn't tell us how to live just to dominate and control us but to help us find the life Jesus promised, "A life in all its fullness!"

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."  John 10:10

If you want to know more about that full life Jesus wants you to enjoy feel free to email me.

If you have it already please pray for me as I seek to share those boundaries with the local footballers that use Flanders Field.

The Bread, Wine & Chiili?

Communion is an important part of church life.  It's the church communities chance to get back on track with each other, centred around Jesus and the gospel.  We've been missing communion at Cafe Church for a while because we didn't know exactly how we could it in a Cafe Church way, that wouldn't make visitors feel uncomfortable.

The Lord's Supper must be a really strange thing to outsiders but it really shouldn't be.  Everyone understands food.  Eating together is a really important part of family life in most (if not all) cultures.  The first Communion was part of a Passover meal and it's clear in 1Corinthians that it was still a meal later in the first century.

"When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk."  1Co 11:20-21

The solution that we came to was quite simple (but different).   Our communion is now part of a monthly bring and share meal.  So now on the first Sunday of every month everyone brings some food and we all enjoy fellowship with grub.  At the start of the meal we break a big fancy loaf and pray, reminding ourselves - and helping visitors understand - what Jesus did for us when His body was broken.  Instead of having a tiny morsel of bread we encourage people to take a massive chunk to eat with there meal.  This last Sunday my wife brought a big pot of chilli con carne, when people got up to eat they took their bread and then ate it with the chilli.

"In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."" 1Co 11:25

Then after the meal (see above quote) we then pour everyone a glass of wine (red grape juice) and remind ourselves - teach others - about the blood Jesus shed to bring about His new agreement by praying and drinking together.

Instead of making it a strange thing for non Christians to come into and watch from the outside, it's something you can easily invite them into. They may just come for the food but they hear the gospel.  But more than just hearing the gospel they get to see it in action, as the church family enjoy each others company and welcome people in.

Church meetings can often be mystical rituals to non Christians.  But I don't think they were originally meant to be.  Working in a church plant has been a great eye opener for me.  Everything we do has to be thought through carefully,  because we're primarily aiming at outsiders.  So before we do anything we have to ask these questions:

• Is it understandable?  
• Is it welcoming?  
• Is it gospel centred? 
• Is it Biblical?  
• Is it right?

Maybe we should be asking these kind of questions more often in our churches.  We can be so worried about making mistakes that we never try anything new.  I'd rather risk something new to see people saved, than keep things safe and not grow.

Remember, Jesus didn't die so that we wouldn't make any more mistakes.  He died for our mistakes!  So that if we love Him, even our mistakes wont separate us from Him!.  Let's not be afraid of making mistakes for the right reasons.

Yours in Jesus.

Ben

Christmas Cafe

Merry Christmas everyone! Let me start by thanking everyone that prayed for our Candlelit Cafe this past Sunday, it went really well. We had over 35 people come. Most were cafe regulars but we did have a few visitors amoungst us.
It was a pretty simple format. People arrived and were served Glogg (Swedish mulled wine) and Christmas goodies. We sat around and chatted about what we were doing on Christmas day and other seasonal stuff.

After about 30 minutes we started the main event. No one led it but I did start it off. Basically the format was a video Bible reading (from last years Baptism Union "Bethlehem readings" DVD), followed by a brief testimony from a member of the church that related in some way to the reading, and then we sung a carol. We did this four times and then I did a brief talk.

My main point was to show that if all Christmas was about, celebrating the birth of a poor baby 2000 years ago, then that isn't really worth celebrating. But as the testimonies demonstrated Jesus is still changing lives and relevant today. All the people who shared were very different and were all united through their relationship with Jesus.
My challenge was to ask people to take the time this Christmas to think about whom this baby grew up into and what he came to do. I wanted them to get beyond the prologue of His birth to see His amazing life, death and resurrection.

Afterward, we continued with the refreshments and converstaion.  I was encouraged to see that people wanted to invite their friends to come along to Cafe Church in the New Year. I think the combination of God's word and live testimonies proving it true was a very powerful mix. Please pray for the non Christians who came along.

I'm off on my Christmas Hol's now and looking forward to the break before 2010.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Ben

Christmas - The best chance of the year

Don't you just love Christmas?  I must admit I haven't done any Christmas shopping, haven't sent my cards out yet, haven't been able to get all the invites out for our outreach this Sunday (I've been ill) and still have a million things to do before Christmas is here.   I should be stressed or something but I am in an amazing state of calm as I write this blog.  Maybe it's still the cold & flu drugs I've been taking or maybe it's the peace of the Lord.  I firmly believe the latter.

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:9-11

That said I do have to get the Outreach sorted for this Sunday.  It's called "Candlelit Cafe".  We'll be having mulled wine, candlelight, carols and a few Bible readings and a little gospel talk by me.  We want to make a cosy, relaxed Christmas meeting, where people feel warmly welcomed and have a great time. 

This Sunday coming is probably the best Sunday of the year to get people into our churches.  That gives us a few Christmas challenges.

1.  Will we invite our neighbours to our Christmas specials or will we assume that they won’t want to come?
 There's something about singing carols in church that feels very Christmassy (I know that sounds obvious).  People love to get into the Christmas vibe and believe it or not Church is still the best pace to do it, even in this western secular society. 

You may have Muslim neighbours.  Don't let that put you off.  Last year a friend of mine invited her Muslim colleague to a Church Nativity.    She was so excited to attend and afterwards said, "That was the first time I've been invited to a Christmas activity!"  She had a great time.  The nativity isn't a stumbling block to a Muslim.  That lady hasn't become a Christian but my friend has been invited into her home for Muslim celebrations and their friendship has developed.

Go on invite that person you are sure wont come.  Maybe the reason they will never come is simply because you'd never ask them?   We can't be blamed if they say "no", but we can if we never ask.

2.  Will we remember to recognise the new people in Church this Sunday and make them feel extra welcome?
Even if you don't get anyone to come to church this week, don't worry.  Instead be aware that new people will be there.  Keep an eye out, say hello, find them a good seat, introduce them to your friends and generally be nice.

A warm welcome is the most important thing newcomers need when they come into our churches.  Yes, yes I know they need the Gospel, but let's not put barriers in the way of them hearing it.
 
3.  Will we take the opportunity to point people to the cross and not just the manger? 

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed(and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." Luke 2:34-35

To those of us who are speaking this weekend, the temptation is to just be light and simple.  People have come to hear about a baby and what can be more inoffensive than a baby?  We don't want to offend anyone, but we don't want them to think that all Jesus was, was a baby.  Let's pray for wisdom, grace and clarity, so that people will hear and understand how important Jesus is.

Let's take up these challenges and pray that God changes lives this Christmas.

Please pray for the Candlelit Cafe.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Ben

A square outside the box (why we started Cafe Church)

Our Church-plants main meeting is called Cafe Church.  We didn't set out to do a cafe style meeting.  We weren't unhappy with our normal church services, in fact we loved them.  Our mother church (Bonny Downs at The Well) has a family atmosphere with lively charismatic (but not too charismatic) worship and relevant, encouraging and challenging teaching.   It was a real battle to leave and start a new church only a stones throw away.  We only went because we were called to do so, not because we were unhappy.

To make things more strange about our new style of church meeting, I am what most people may think as a traditional evangelical.  I'm not trying to be emerging or radical in my theology.  I hold a traditional evangelical view on the Bible, God as trinity, original sin, salvation only in Jesus through repentance, judgment and hell, yadda yadda yadda...  you get the point.   I remember after being told for the millionth time, "In order to plant a church you need to be radical thinker who thinks outside the box!" thinking, "then why has God called me?"  Actually when I looked at the people who deeply had a call to the church-plant we were all the "traditionals".  I was getting frustrated, if the radical people want us to be more "radical" then why don't they join us?

It took us nearly two years to come up with the idea of Cafe Church.  Our vision was to make church easier for people to step into.   Yet we didn't want to just scrap everything and start again.  We prayed and studied the Bible looking for what church was boiled down.  What we found was that people who love God want to get closer to Him are the church.   I remember getting so stressed out on Sunday mornings trying to get the music sorted and the projector working and noticing every little thing that didn't quite work, that I missed opportunities to chat and pray with people.   So the idea of Cafe Church -to us- came out of a desire to make people central to what we do.

One of my big hang ups about Cafe Church before we actually did it was that we'd go soft on the Bible.  I had this idea that a relaxed style of meeting meant a relaxed approach to the Bible.  Boy was I wrong!  The Bible is central to what we do.   We read it aloud together, study it around our tables and then feed it all back to the group.   I have found that together we can get really deep into God's word.  As the teacher/preacher it keeps me on my toes because I'm not always sure what people might say.  I find this keeps it all fresh and relevant.  When I just straight preach, no matter how much I research and pray I am never 100% sure I'm scratching where enough people are itching.  But in Cafe Church people say where there itches are.  If anything I need to know the passage better than ever because I never no where the roller-coaster will lead (and yes there are times I feel sick and want to get off).

I still love preaching and am passionate about it's importance and power.  However, preaching shouldn't be a one way thing.  We need to allow ourselves to be in conversational teaching with people.  That's how this generation has been taught to learn, though asking questions.   So lets give them room to ask them and give them opportunity to find the answers.   I am still traditional in my theology but believe the way I teach my theology should be relevant to my mission field.


All cafe style church meetings will be different.  Some are like normal services with comfy chairs, some are in Starbucks, some are in sports pavilions.  They should be different because the people they are trying to reach are different.

I am a square outside the box.  I most naturally fit into a traditional church setting.  I feel comfortable there, singing modern songs and listening to a good 30 minute preach.  But to reach the people God wants me to reach I need to leave my nice, old, comfortable box and move into shape that fits the people in my culture and community.  The second to last thing I want to be is radical but the last thing I want to be is irrelevant.

If you want to find out exactly how we run our take on Cafe Church then visit our website.

Ben